Where To Start with Gold and More

Top Tips for Gold Jewelry Shopper Jewelry of all kinds, specially gold jewelry, is one of the most usual things to buy as gifts and for oneself. Unfortunately, in the large majority of jewelry purchases, people pay far too much a price. The usual jewelry sale is computed at “triple keystone” price, which is known in the trade as calls triple cost. In short, if a jeweler shows you a book where an item is listed at a price of $3,000, he has likely has shelled out $1,000 for it. He might offer you a “bargain” price of $2,400, which is 20 percent less than the original price. Don’t feel guilty – he will be pocketing a 140-percent profit, or $1,400, on something for which he paid only $1,000. You need to know the essentials of gold jewelry. Jewelry that is marked “750” is 75 percent gold and 25 percent alloy, which means it is considered 75 percent pure gold, comparable to the purity of 18-carat gold. Gold stamped “585” is 14-carat and 60 percent pure gold. Using the same logic, “375” or 9-carat gold is 37.5 percent pure gold. In England, people think highly of 9-carat gold, but it is merely considered costume jewelry in the U.S. and not a good investment. You may never be able to resell it for an amount close to how much you bought it for. Jewelry in general is sold for its pure gold weight. You must weigh your gold jewelry on a jeweler’s scale to know its base value. Whatever its weight, you have to make deductions for the alloy content in the gold: for instance, since 18-carat gold is 75 percent gold, you’ll have to deduct 25 percent from the value to arrive at its gold weight. So, if the gold is has a current price of $1,000 per ounce, and you have an 18-carat piece with a weight of four ounces, the pure gold’s value would be $3,000, which is about what you may expect to receive if you decided to sell it.A Brief History of Gold
Buying the same 18-carat piece on Forty-Seventh Street, on the other hand, you will likely find a store that would sell it for about $4,000 or some 33{74ac7784dadf43f9b58c4d98e87460d0946757c5dce9d4030e31309037540402} over its weight. Outside the jewelry district, the standard is triple keystone, and the same pieces can likely be bought for around $9,000. Clearly, the above doesn’t apply to pieces created by designers like Cartier or Bulgari, where a three-ounce pure gold bracelet can have a price tag as high as $30,000 – its weight 10 times over. Then again, famous jewelers design usually design exquisite pieces, so you’re paying a substantial premium for the design as well as the brand. But if you decided to sell such designer pieces, though you will surely get some premium over weight, it will not be that much more than the weight that a typical gold piece would bring.Rings – Getting Started & Next Steps